Michael Chandler was viewed as a Bellator cornerstone not long ago. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
The last time the combat sports world saw Michael Chandler in action, the former Bellator MMA lightweight champion was laying the proverbial wood on Derek Campos at Bellator 138 with a first-round rear-naked choke submission on June 19.
“It was so liberating,” Chandler told Sherdog.com. “I finally got that off my chest, got that win out of the way, and I finally felt like I could be me again. It was like a thousand pounds of chains were lifted off my shoulders and chest. As tough as I am and as tough as each and every one of us fighters are, we are still human beings. We still feel pain and regret and embarrassment. I can’t tell you how almost embarrassed I was when I lost two in a row and then three in a row.
“I almost turned into this hermit because I didn’t want to show my face in public,” he added. “I had to wait 668 days just to exhale, and I did after I beat Campos. I feel freed, I feel liberated and I am back on the road to the title.”
Nearly two years have passed since Chandler surrendered the Bellator lightweight championship in his rematch with Eddie Alvarez -- a setback that touched off the three-fight losing streak that culminated with back-to-back defeats to Will Brooks. However, his motivations run far deeper than reclaiming the gold.
“For me, it’s always been so much more than about just a championship,” said Chandler, who was an NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri. “It’s about winning, it’s about excellence and it’s about the journey. When I won the title [in 2011], I think I was something like a 10-to-1 underdog going into the fight with Eddie Alvarez. I was only two and a half years into the sport; I was only 8-0 going up against a guy who was among the top five in the sport, so to go in there and not just win but to finish him after a long, drawn-out, back-and-forth fight, it was a crazy rollercoaster.
“
For me, it’s always been so
much more than about just
a championship. It’s about
winning, it’s about excellence
and it’s about the journey.
much more than about just
a championship. It’s about
winning, it’s about excellence
and it’s about the journey.
”
-- Michael Chandler, Bellator lightweight
Now that Chandler has returned to the winner’s circle, the next order of business is a rematch with David Rickels at Bellator 145 on Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. He torched “The Caveman” in just 44 seconds at Bellator 97 a little more than two years ago. Chandler admits he does not expect his rematch to go easy because of the improvements “The Caveman” has shown since their first encounter.
“I’ve improved quite a bit since the last time I fought him, but I’m also aware of the performances he’s turned in over the last couple of years, so I know he’s improved, as well,” Chandler said. “But that’s the crazy part of this sport; you can knock a guy out in 44 seconds like I did to him when we fought, and then the next time you fight him, you can have a 15-, 20-minute war that can go either way. Things are always different each and every time you step into the cage, so history isn’t always an accurate predictor of the future. I’m excited for the fight, I’m excited to be fighting ‘The Caveman’ again and I’m pumped that it’s in St. Louis.”
Some might suggest that Rickels had an off night at Bellator 97. Chandler agrees to a degree but also believes his first-round obliteration of “The Caveman” was calculated.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m that much better than him because anybody can just get caught,” he said, “but when you watch the fight, it’s clean. He circles right, he circles left and throws a jab and I have a very keen sense of when a jab is coming at me, so I slipped it and threw an overhand right. I dropped him with that, hit him with an uppercut and then finished him off with a couple of very clean, very accurate punches. Though I feel as though I am better than him in every regard, I wouldn’t say that he just ‘got caught’ because there was so much precise technique that went into those little exchanges.”
In four appearances since their first fight, Rickels has gone 2-1 with one no-contest, sandwiching wins over J.J. Ambrose and Davi Ramos around a knockout loss to Patricky Freire.
“I am expecting the best Dave Rickels we’ve ever seen,” Chandler said, “but I’m also expecting to see a guy who knows he got knocked out by me, a guy who knows he’s not as good as me, a guy who knows he’s been knocked out a couple fights ago, so he’s going to be protecting his chin. I got a couple special things I’m going to be throwing at him.”